Canada's Waratah Advisors is looking beyond that country's borders with the launch of a pair of offshore funds.

The Toronto-based firm unveiled the offshore versions of its Waratah One and Waratah Performance funds last month. Both employ market-neutral strategies, with Performance having a more concentrated portfolio; the funds returned 5.8% and 5.6%, respectively, last year.

The US$300 million firm elected to create offshore funds to run concurrently with the existing products in response to demand from outside Canada, HFMWeek reports. The funds launched with US$50 million in initial assets, including capital from a large institutional investor in New York.